Sarah Jones MP: speeches

Speeches

• 12 Jun 2025 · Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Gentleman will know, we are doing what we can to unlock the planning challenges that people have faced for many years in a whole range of areas. We are introducing legislation to do that, and making several changes. I obviously cannot comment on specific planning proposals in his area, but he should be reassured that we are doing what we can to encourage growth.

• 7 Apr 2025 · Scunthorpe Steelworks · Hansard source

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  We are very much planning not to make the mistakes that my hon. Friend talked about. We do not want the blast furnaces to shut—that remains the Government’s view—and we will do everything we can to reach a deal with British Steel to protect workers and secure those jobs and the production of steel in the long term.

• 18 Mar 2025 · Nuclear Power · Hansard source

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  I will happily investigate further the issue that my hon. Friend has raised. There are two pieces of work going on in this space: the draft nuclear planning policy statement and the nuclear regulatory taskforce. We want to make things as easy as we can, and I am very happy to talk to him further.

• 13 Mar 2025 · Manufacturing: West Midlands · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right; we do not want a race to the bottom. Advanced manufacturing jobs in the west midlands are well paid for a reason: there is a very highly skilled workforce and we want to protect and grow that. He is right that there is more that we can do. Some £2 billion was set aside in the Budget for the automative sector and just shy of £1 billion for aerospace. That will help; however, we can further reduce the barriers, whether around regulation, planning or trading and export, and we are working as fast as we can to do just that.

• 30 Jan 2025 · International Investment · Hansard source

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  Through increased inward investment, we can innovate, create jobs and deliver on our growth mission to become the fastest-growing nation in the G7. We have wasted no time: on top of the £63 billion raised at our international investment summit, our new national wealth fund has already leveraged £1.6 billion of private sector investment, and we have outlined ambitious plans for planning reform alongside a modern industrial strategy to secure record levels of investment.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Solar Farms: Agricultural Land · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. We already have a planning system that enables us to look at individual projects. The new Government will set those strategic frameworks, but we have to allow the legal processes to continue while we do that. We will see an increase in the push to 2030 and beyond that. We want to see, through good government, a proper national framework that puts these issues in place. I want to touch again on the community benefits, which hon. Members have raised. I cannot stress enough that communities hosting clean energy infrastructure are doing a service to our country, and they need to benefit from that. It could be argued that we will all benefit in the long term as energy prices come down and we have more energy security, but there are many ways that communities can directly benefit, including through community funds, direct payments and community ownership. We are exploring all the options, and we will have more to say about that soon. In the meantime, Great British Energy will support community energy schemes, helping communities to unlock opportunities through the local power plan, which will support local authorities, community energy groups and others to deliver small and medium-scale renewable energy projects. It could develop up to 8 GW of clean power by 2030. I thank the hon. Member for South Cotswolds for securing the debate, and other hon. Members for their very thoughtful interventions. The Government remain committed to balancing the urgent need for renewable electricity with considerations of land use, food production and community benefit. We want to take people with us on this journey, which will see us going into the future with a mix of renewable energy that delivers the lower prices that we all want to see. Question put and agreed to.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Draft Environmental Permitting (Electricity Generating Stations) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Environmental Permitting (Electricity Generating Stations) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 30 October 2024. The Government believe that the answers to the challenges of energy security, affordability and sustainability point not in different directions but in the same direction: towards clean power. Investing in clean power at speed and scale can help to tackle the climate crisis and create good jobs. It is the only route to protect bill payers and ensure energy security. That is why making Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030 is one of this Government’s five central missions. Although renewable energy is at the heart of our plan to deliver clean power, we also know that we must bring forward low-carbon generation sources, providing added security for when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. This includes flexible supply sources that can scale up or down instantaneously to meet peak demand. Some flexibility can be provided by short-duration technologies such as batteries, which can help to balance the system within each day, but we will also need long-duration technologies, which can run for extended periods of low renewable production. To meet the challenge, the Government are investing in low-carbon flexible technologies such as carbon capture and storage at existing power stations, hydrogen, and long-duration electricity storage. This flexibility is critical to maintaining a constant supply of electricity in the UK, keeping the lights on for millions of homes and businesses. However, as new low-carbon technologies scale up, we will continue to need reliable, mature technologies, including gas, to provide energy security. Gas is expected to be used less in our future energy system, taking a backseat, and only to maintain security of supply. Although gas will continue to play an important role in the system, it is only right that we should expect any new or substantially refurbished combustion plants to be built net zero-ready. This is why we are updating the existing regime and introducing the new decarbonisation readiness requirements. Before I turn in detail to the decarbonisation requirements, let me set out the current regime. Since 2009, all new-build combustion power plants in Great Britain with capacity over 300 MW have been subject to the carbon capture readiness requirements. Those regulations require plant operators to demonstrate that it is technically and economically feasible to retrofit carbon capture and storage technology. Due to the 300 MW threshold, the policy has seen limited application since 2009. It has also contributed to a costly market distortion by incentivising the building of smaller, less efficient plants, and inadvertently creating an unacceptable loophole that has resulted in a significant number being built at 299 MW to avoid the carbon capture readiness requirements. The policy landscape has changed significantly since the carbon capture readiness requirements were introduced. Plant operators now have an alternative pathway to decarbonise through hydrogen-fired generation, and there has been the introduction of the UK’s legal obligation to meet carbon budgets and to reach net zero by 2050. In March 2023, the previous Government published a final consultation on the decarbonisation readiness proposals, alongside the publication of two technical studies for hydrogen and for carbon capture and storage. The consultation received positive feedback from industry and we published a response in mid-October, giving the go-ahead to proposals set out in the consultation. Let me turn to the detail of the regulations. This statutory instrument will amend the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 by inserting new schedule 25C. This will remove the 300 MW minimum capacity threshold, removing any existing market distortion and supporting rapid decarbonisation by setting out that nearly all new and substantially refurbished combustion power plants must have a credible plan to decarbonise. The regulations will also move the requirements from the planning consent process, where they currently sit for carbon capture readiness, to environmental permitting. This will ensure that the responsibility for regulating the requirements falls to the Environment Agency rather than to local planning authorities and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Unlike local planning authorities, the Environment Agency is already involved in the assessment of carbon capture readiness and has the technical expertise to assess the requirements. As I mentioned a moment ago, this will also include hydrogen readiness. The new requirements will now enable combustion plants to demonstrate decarbonisation readiness through conversion to hydrogen firing as well as carbon capture. In doing so, the instrument introduces hydrogen conversion readiness and carbon capture readiness assessments, which are proportionate to the developing nature of hydrogen to power and of carbon capture and storage. It will also expand the generation technologies in scope of the requirements to include biomass, energy from waste, and combined heat and power plants, ensuring that a higher number of carbon-intensive plants are now captured. The updated requirements are intended to strike a balance, ensuring that new-build plants are ready to take full advantage of future decarbonisation opportunities —and that the refurbishment of old sites is conducted to take advantage of those opportunities too—while acknowledging the emerging state of hydrogen and carbon capture technologies and their enabling infrastructure. We expect that the requirements will be strengthened over time as the generation technology improves and clarity on enabling infrastructure availability increases. To ensure that we continually assess the impact of the policy and the case for strengthening the requirements, we have included a statutory requirement for the Government to carry out a review of the policy in periods of not exceeding five years. In summary, the regulations will ensure that the gas capacity that we need for the security of supply is future-proofed and that there is a credible plan to transition to low-carbon operation. In doing so, they will help towards our aim to become a clean energy superpower and deliver net zero by 2050. I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.

• 31 Oct 2024 · Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  For a Government who do not get business, it is surprising, is it not, that we got £63 billion of investment through the international investment summit—twice what the previous Government managed after two years of planning it? The Government are working very closely with the automotive industry. We know that the global situation is very difficult and I talk to Mike Hawes very often, which is why we put £2 billion of funding into the Budget yesterday. It is also why we are working very closely with the sector to create the conditions we need to transition to electric vehicles and to protect our industry in a way that the previous Government, frankly, failed to do.

• 31 Oct 2024 · Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  The difference between a Labour Government and a Conservative Government is that we believe that growth needs to be felt in our communities, not just measured on a spreadsheet. I know that my hon. Friend is working hard in his constituency and is already campaigning on issues such as banking services, which are so important for our rural communities. He is right: the industrial strategy needs to be designed and implemented in lockstep with local leaders, mayors and devolved leaders across the country, alongside our wider plans for housing and skills, which of course will be part of the picture. I look forward to working with him on identifying the barriers to growth in rural communities so that we can break them down.